Shadow S1 Ep5
by Bad Day at Black Rock
Summary: Following up on a gruesome murder, Sam runs into Meg and isn't convinced it's coincidence.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: These fics are based on real episodes from all four seasons of Supernatural. The characters and plots belong to the creator and writers for the show. If you want background on the new character you can read the previous episodes.

When she eagerly expressed her desire to investigate the scene of a gruesome homicide, Kayla didn't intend for Sam to sit out. She felt a little guilty, thinking of him sitting by himself in the hotel room. Of course three security alarm employees showing up would look kind of suspicious. The uniforms Sam got for her and Dean were pretty cheesy; drab jump suits with their names embroidered on them. Oh well, they were functional.

Dean followed her into the apartment building, supply bag in hand, dressed like an idiot. The atmosphere was kind of funny though.

"I feel like I'm in the intro of some bad porn movie…" He tested the waters with her, to see how she'd react.

She didn't miss a beat. "Why does it have to be a bad one?"

He smirked. "I like you."

"What's in the bag?"

"The EMF," he pulled out his homemade reader. "It basically detects spirit activity."

"Oh, very high tech."

"I try to stay on top of things." He paused at the way it sounded out loud and they both laughed.

"Bow chicka wow wow…"

Dean smirked; he liked finding these little quirks in her. Unfortunately the apartment was a complete buzz kill. Blood splattered all over the walls, the carpet…nasty stuff. The landlord thought it was some kind of animal and he exchanged a look with Kayla. They knew better and they needed to find this thing fast, before it did it again.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam walked into the bar and saw Kayla sitting alone at a table, he couldn't really read the look on her face as he approached. Once she saw him she hid whatever it was and smiled at him.

"Hey Sam."

"Hey, where's Dean?"

She motioned to the bar without looking. "Gathering intel."

Ah, that's the look he saw. He looked over and wasn't surprised to see Dean flirting with a bartender. It was so effortless for him and they just ate it up. Sam didn't know whether to be impressed or disgusted, but he was leaning towards disgusted. He didn't cut him any slack when he joined them at the table.

"So what'd you find out? Besides her phone number?"

"Sam I am a professional. I'm insulted that you even…" He looked to Kayla and saw she wasn't buying it. "What?"

"Why don't you just cough it up?"

He grinned sheepishly and put the napkin on the table, the waitresses phone number was scrawled across it in black ink. Sam sighed quietly; he really thought Dean was going to be smarter about this.

Kayla dipped the napkin in his drink. "Don't you get tired of being a whore?"

"No, and you know, that's not the only thing I found out."

"Well if it includes her sign or what color panties she's wearing, I don't really need to hear it."

"You can come right out and ask that?" Dean paused. "Hey what…"

"Keep dreaming." She got up and pushed her stool under the table. "I'll be in the room."

Sam watched her walk out, he couldn't blame her for the reaction. "Well done Casanova."

"What'd I say?"

"I thought you were into her."

"I am." She had a sense of humor, she could take it.

"Maybe you should stop hitting on other girls and focus a little bit more."

Dean glanced to the side, then back at Sam. "That's not really my thing."

"But I'm pretty sure it's hers." Positive actually.

"Huh. Well, I don't know if that's really gonna work out."

Sam shook his head, that did actually surprise him a little. He really expected her to be a consistent fling. It made him feel worse for Dean than he did for Kayla, because he didn't know any other way to be. If they did end up together, she'd be in for a hell of a ride.


	3. Chapter 3

So it wasn't awkward at _all_ when he returned to the room without Sam. Telling Kayla that Sam ran into some girl he knew sounded like such a line so instead of trying to make conversation, he started on the research on Meg Masters. Kayla was listening to music and absently flipping through a magazine while he worked. It took him a while to focus, his mind kept telling him to make some smart-ass but suggestive comment to her but he decided against it.

Kayla had taken her headphones off which seemed to exaggerate the silence between them. He was relieved when his phone rang. Sam was sitting in front of the girl's apartment, he was such a pussy. Didn't he know he was supposed to be _in_ the apartment? Oh well, he let him know this 'mystery girl' did exist, everything was legit.

"What about the symbol? Have any luck with that?"

"Um, yeah. That I did have some luck with. Turns out it's…Zoroastrian. Very old school, like two thousand years before Christ."

Kayla looked up from her magazine, was he trying to recite what she'd told him about that symbol?

Dean continued, trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about. "It's a symbol for a deva."

She listened to him pause while Sam questioned him, Dean glanced over at her and winked.

"It translates into 'demon of darkness'. They're like the demonic pit bulls, nasty things."

He paused again and Kayla could tell Sam was questioning his sources, Dean got defensive all of a sudden.

"You're not the only one who can read ok?" Another pause. "Yeah ok Kayla looked it up."

Kayla snickered and went back to flipping the pages in her magazine. Dean explained the new situation to him, and how we had someone in town that really knew what they were doing. Someone who would be a pain in the ass to take out.

"So go give that girl a private strip-o-gram." He grinned. "No, bite her! But don't leave teeth marks. Just enough to…Sam?"

She held back a laugh as he set the cell on the table again. "Guess Sam's not a fan of the biting."

"Apparently. I'm surprised that kid doesn't have migraines." He hesitated, then decided to chance it. "You're a fan of the biting then, right?"

"Don't leave teeth marks." _Did that just come out of your mouth?_

Dean fought back the smile tugging at him and turned back to his computer. Oh yeah, she wanted him. If he was more convinced she wouldn't slap him he'd press further while he had her alone. So far he still thought she might slap him. He'd let it be for now.


	4. Chapter 4

Sam and Dean had been talking outside the hotel room for awhile now. From their expressions it was fairly serious; she supposed they could be talking about this demon. At the hotel with Sam during the ghost truck investigation, he had told her briefly about the yellow-eyed demon that killed their mother, along with his fiancée. If this was the same thing, going after it was potentially a death wish.

Dean opened the door and waited for her to look up. He didn't know how much arguing to expect from her, but after the conversation he just had with Sam he wasn't in the mood to argue. He'd just have to be firm and pray she would listen. There was no way in hell he was dragging her into this mess.

"We want you to stay here."

"While you go after the demon? Dean, I can help you."

"Yeah you can also get hurt. Look, no offense but we've been doing this all our lives. You're not ready for this kind of encounter, if that's what it really is. Besides, yellow-eyes is our personal vendetta. You don't need to get involved."

"Are you sure _you're_ ready for this kind of encounter?"

"Well," he hesitated. "We're more ready than before. Please just stay here, ok? Don't follow us."

She wanted to help but didn't want to argue with him. "Call me, if you guys need help ok?" He wouldn't call.

"I will. We'll um, we'll see you in a little while." _At least that's what we're going for._

Kayla grimaced as he pulled the door shut. She momentarily thought about following them anyway, but didn't want to be expelled from their presence altogether. The wait would drive her crazy, she couldn't just sit at the hotel. How annoying…maybe she'll just walk up to the store and stock up on first aid supplies, just in case.


	5. Chapter 5

Kayla knew the car wouldn't be back in so short a time, but she was still disappointed to see the parking spot empty in front of the room. She had two bags full of all supplies needed for potential wounds; if they didn't use them tonight she was sure they'd use them down the road.

The door slammed against the wall when she pushed it; stupid trashy hotel, the doors didn't even work well. She found her way to the counter and set the bags down before flipping on the light, out of the corner of her eye she spotted the figure sitting in the chair and gasped.

"Miss Michelson." John Winchester sat calmly with his hands folded in his lap.

She caught her breath. "Mr. Winchester! You scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Well that makes two of us. How are you?"

"I've been doing alright. You here with the boys?"

"Yeah, I've been with them since the scarecrow deal." She smiled, thinking about the guy's reactions to this. After the phone calls she'd heard them make… "They're going to be so excited to see you."

"Well they're a little wrapped up right now, don't call them." He glanced to the bags of medical supplies on the table and a look of worry crossed his face, it was gone in an instant. His voice softened. "Tell me what you've been doing."

On the plus side, Mr. Winchester kept her distracted while the guys were gone. Almost two hours flew by while she told him about the cases they had been on and about how she was getting along with them. He seemed satisfied with the way things were going. They both turned when a key clicked into the door.

Dean walked in first. "Kayla we…dad."

"Dad?" Sam couldn't believe it, after all this time he just shows up, late. Not that they ended up needing him.

"Hey boys." John teared up when he saw them; it was sweet.

Dean walked over and hugged him, thankful that he was there at all. After all the unanswered calls, he was glad to see he was ok. It's rough hunting by yourself and his dad wasn't as young as he used to be.

Sam nodded to him. "Hey dad."

He obviously wasn't going to get the same reception from his youngest son, though he could blame him. John returned the nod. "Kayla's been telling me about how she's keeping you two in line."

Now that the reunion was over, she could voice her concern for their condition. "What happened to you guys?"

Sam had what looked like claw marks across his left cheek while Dean had an open cut above his eye; both of them had blood running down their throats. They looked like hell to say the least.

"It was a trap, we were set up." Dean looked to his father like he'd let him down. "I'm sorry we called you in."

"That's ok, I thought it might be."

"I'm gonna um, grab my backpack, from the car."

Kayla stepped out of the room to give them some privacy. Even Sam, through his anger, looked like he might tear up seeing his dad. She already knew what they would soon find out; that he wasn't staying, he didn't want them to come with him. In a way she admired his sense of protection for them.

She leaned against the hood of the Impala, and then put her weight on her feet again. Dean didn't like anyone to lean on the car. She laughed a little at her own willingness to do what he wanted. Her moment of ease was quickly cut short when she heard pained yelling from inside the room. _Oh God._

Dean managed to push himself onto his elbow and see his dad, but he shouldn't have. He didn't want to see what those bastards were doing to him. This couldn't be it, after all they've worked for, they couldn't go out like this.


	6. Chapter 6

She dropped the key twice before her hands steadied enough to open the door. All three Winchester men were pinned to the walls, John was screaming in agony as he was torn up by an unseen attacker. _Deva._

"Kayla! Get the light! The flare!" Sam screamed at her.

Her knees hit the floor and she jerked open the bag. Once it was activated, a blinding light filled the room accompanied by smoke, but the devas were gone. She helped them find their way out the door.

"Are you guys ok?! Is everyone ok?" She spit the words out but she didn't need an answer. It made her concern for them earlier seem stupid.

Sam was shoving things into the car. "We need to get going, as soon as the flare is out they'll be back!"

"Wait, Sam." Dean stopped him and looked at John. "Dad, you can't come with us."

"What? What are you talking about?"

John understood but was reluctant to leave them. "You boys are beat to hell."

"We'll be ok. They're using us to get to him, we have to split up." _Ignore Sam, this is for the best._ He was _not_ letting these bastards get to them this easily.

Sam started to argue. "But…"

"He's vulnerable with us!" Dean cut him off.

"Dad, no. After everything, you have to come with us. I want to be part of this family." He really meant it, possibly for the first time in his life, he wanted to be a part of this. His dad would make that hard if he just took off again.

"You gotta let me go Sammy, this fight is just starting and we're all going to have a part."

He grimaced but nodded, knowing it was pointless to argue. That's just like him; spend his whole life trying to force Sam into wanting this and know he does, and he's going to run away again. This is why he doesn't bother.

John didn't want to have to look them in the eyes any longer. He glanced to Kayla. "You get them cleaned up, take care of my boys."

She offered a weak smile. "Ok Mr. Winchester."

"Hey." It was a comforting tone and he motioned her towards him. "Boys make sure you have everything you need."

Kayla followed him back to his truck. "They've been trying to get a hold of you, you know? They want you around. I see what you're trying to do but…"

"They're strong, they'll be fine. We're a stronger force separated. Are you sure you're up for this?" It was a serious question, what just happened was a perfect example of what she could expect from staying with his sons. He sent her for a reason but he wouldn't make her stay.

"I'll be fine. I just, I haven't known them that long but something like this makes you think. In an instant they could just…"

"Don't think like that. You three are making a great team."

Dean wasn't checking his supplies. Instead he couldn't take his eyes from the interaction between his dad and Kayla. It was rare to see him try to be affectionate, to show compassion to someone but he was sure putting an effort into it for her. Did he just…he _hugged_ her. She was more than a hunter to him.


End file.
